Kalispell seeks feedback for Main Street safety plan

The City of Kalispell, in partnership with Kittelson and Associates Inc., is holding an open house Tuesday to solicit public input for its forthcoming Main Street safety plan.

The event takes place March 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Kalispell City Hall, Council Chambers, 201 First Ave. E., and will give residents the chance to meet with city staff and organizations involved with the project, like the Kalispell Downtown Association and the Kalispell Business Improvement District.

Aimed at preventing fatalities and serious injury along the U.S. 93/Main Street corridor, the Main Street Kalispell Safety Plan is funded through a U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All Planning Grant totalling $520,000. The Montana Department of Transportation is kicking in $50,000 with another $80,000 coming from municipal coffers to bring the total project cost to $650,000. 

Jarod Nygren, the city’s planning director, describes the roadmap as part and parcel with the far-reaching U.S. 93 Bypass project, which the state began planning for in 2004 and is entering its final phases of construction, linking Airport Road to the Foys Lake roundabout.

While the bypass will relieve downtown congestion, Nygren said the Main Street safety plan is aimed at ensuring safe navigation of the downtown area for all people. He encouraged residents to share their experience traveling downtown.

Helpful feedback could be as simple as pointing out “a raised sidewalk that’s been a tripping hazard for you,” Nygren said. Or it could be the testimony of parents who have selected schools based on their children’s safety going to and from home, he said. 

“We don’t want a dividing line running down the center of downtown,” Nygren said of Main Street. “But the data shows that it is.”

Tuesday’s open house will introduce an online interactive map featured on the forthcoming project website that allows users to pinpoint problem spots and apply comments for city staff to review.

Kalispell City Councilor Ryan Hunter tied Tuesday’s event back to the Downtown Plan Kalispell City Council authorized in 2017. 

“I look forward to hearing the public input on how to make our Main Street a safer and more pedestrian-friendly public space,” he said. 

One more open house is scheduled for April. Once the plan is shaped up, Council will decide whether to approve the project. That is expected to occur in the summer months.

Big Sky Public Relations is facilitating outreach and engagement to ensure interested parties and residents are kept informed via social media and a project-specific website, giving citizens the opportunity to influence the development of the plan along the way.

Find more info at www.mainstreetkalispellsafetyplan.com/. 

Reporter Carl Foster can be reached at 758-4407 or cfoster@dailyinterlake.com.